Köpenick, Germany · 1906
He arrested a mayor in a secondhand uniform
In 1906 ex-convict Wilhelm Voigt bought a captain's uniform piece by piece, led about 10 soldiers to Köpenick's town hall and had the mayor arrested.
What is said in this reel
A shoemaker bought a secondhand army uniform and arrested a German mayor. Wilhelm Voigt had spent about 25 years in prison. In 1906, Berlin's police expelled him just for being an ex-convict. So he bought a captain's uniform piece by piece from different shops. Then he stopped soldiers in the street and ordered them to follow. They did, about 10 of them. He took them by train to Köpenick and occupied the town hall. He had the mayor arrested for corruption and left with 4,002 marks. He even signed a receipt with the name of his old prison director. Ten days later, a former cellmate gave him away for years in prison, but Germany's emperor, the Kaiser, pardoned him after about 2 months. Reportedly, even he was amused. Because back then, a uniform was all the authority anyone needed. And it all started when
Credits and sources
- Film: Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (1931, directed by Richard Oswald), via Internet Archive
- Police photos collage by Anagoria, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Photos via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
- Narration: AI-generated voice.
